Bowery Bagels — Restaurant in Portland

One of my favorite bagel places in town until Saturday March 10 at 12:14P. Their customer service as of lately has been a little questionable.

I placed an order (my favorite Simon Benson with a salt and pepper bagel, yummy goodness) and when I went to pay a new cashier kept giving herself a 20% tip, with my creditcard still inside their chip reader! I canceled the transaction and began again assuming it was a harmless mistake, She did it yet again, faster than I could tap the back button. I asked her "why do you keep doing that?" I was really confused and surprised, as I regularly order a Simon Benson sandwich and never have an issue for the last few years. Her response was that it was a "service fee."

Perplexed and shocked, I asked if the owner was aware and she replied "Yes, it was a new policy." "Do you want it or not?" I decided to NOT have my usual Simon Benson sandwich and walked out.

I sent an email just to be sure, as clearly something was awry. About an hour later, I received a very unfriendly reply telling me to never contact them again despite my years of loyal patronage, falsely accusing me of being a liar and leaving voicemail. I have no idea to whom this message was intended for, myself or another, but an email response from a professional company should NEVER be handled this way.

My family and I, are no longer dining here and am wondering if anyone will attempt to reachout and rectify the situation.

I feel a little sad as it was a great place to go to, but I won't tolerate this behavior. A few of my co-workers have read the email reply and can't fathom why a notable restaurant would be so brazen in their composition.

Reference the attached photo for the original email and...

Nice little bagel shop with decent bagels but small selection.

I stopped in here to grab a bagel while waiting for a nearby store to open. The shop itself was small but inviting. The interior seemed to be decorated with signage and other accents which referenced a subway stop. The interior was clean, which is something I always appreciate, though there isn't much seating. If you go when it's busy, don't expect to be able to enjoy your bagel inside.

The staff seemed friendly and made sure that I had everything I needed. They prepared the orders quickly and did a good job of keeping everything running smoothly.

The most disappointing part of my visit was the selection of bagels and schmears, and the actual bagel itself. Was it a bad bagel? No. But it wasn't a fantastic bagel either. I was bummed to see no honey schmear, but every place is different so not a huge deal. There wasn't a huge variety of bagels though, so I ended up with a cinnamon raisin spice bagel with plain schmear.

While it tasted fine, it didn't taste that much different from the standard non-boiled bagels you can get at most places in the Portland area. While this was my first supposed "New York" style bagel, I've been told that the difference between a real bagel and "round bread" is like night and day. This did not seem to me to fall into that category.

All in all if you want a bagel that's good enough and a nice place to enjoy it, Bowery Bagels will suit...

1st thing's first : Best NY-style bagel Portland has ever had. There's not even a close 2nd

Staff is always very friendly and everyone there takes Covid precautions seriously. Always plan on taking your food to go as the place is small. Perhaps walk 1 block west to the North Park blocks. I've tried the Dan Burnside breakfast sandwich and it is so damn tasty and well priced at $7.50, which is extremely cheap for a meal sammy.

Otherwise, my pup Nova and I come in once or twice a week for a half dozen bagels and I've tried numerous kinds. All baked fresh, that damn day. I've yet to be disappointed by any of them.

Their cold beverage case is fairly well covered. Anything from name brand sodas to tea's ect. I always asked for their black ice tea, which they make because, believe it or not, people do be f@#&* up a black iced tea all the time and theirs is perfect

Important to note: This isn't some boujee-Portland-hipster place. You. Just. Get. Normal. Bagel. Variations. There aren't any "Ice Cream" or "Thanksgiving Turkey" flavors, FOH with that nonsense 😅😉

Bonus points for always being so...